Casting for COVID???

[Standard Velocity]

They are only loaded to Shotgun pressure, there really isn't a need to push them that fast. I am pretty confident that they will kill anything on the North American continent inside 125 yards (further if I could hit reliably beyond that, but they drop like a rock).

My gun is a single shot H&R ultra Slug Hunter that has had the barrel cut down to 19" and recrowned, iron sights installed and a small vortex red dot. Its pretty handy and small but still weighs around 9 lbs because it is a 12 gauge rifle built on a 10 gauge frame.

Out of that gun these are moving about 1100 fps. So while they only hit with about 2,000 ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle, they carry about the same momentum as a .375 H&H shooting 300 grain bullets... and it is pretty evident on your shoulder when you let one off.

Since it’s a single shot do you think a Keith style SWC would give you a bit flatter trajectory without having to worry about feeding? May even be able to use a model rocket nose cone as a ballistic tip of sorts.

 

[fourfive8]

Yep, cool bullets for a 12 bore !

As to potential accuracy of cast?... hard to compare to regular jacketed bench rest stuff but can be impressively accurate given historical perspective and non-optical original type sights.

Tightest group I ever witnessed shot with cast from any rifle at longer range, 300 yds, with aperture rear and globe front was out of a Shiloh Sharps 45-70 @ 3/4". I was spotting for a friend and watched each bullet plunge into a 3/4" hole. I could never equal that at 300 yds with either Sharps I had-- a Shiloh Sharps in 45-70 and a C Sharps in 45-110. Best I could do at 300 yards, and it was pretty consistent in good conditions, was about 2.5" at 300 yards with the C Sharps 45-110. I never mounted a scope on either one I had.

One day testing and playing a little with the C Sharps 45-110, I shot the 5 shot group pictured below at 50 yards. Posted to show accuracy potential of cast bullets. I ordered that C Sharps new directly from them about 2002? when they were still using Badger barrels. Normal chamber/throat and about the config. and weight of a "Guigley" with a long range tang aperture rear and globe front. The bullet is from a mold I designed using the Mountain Molds online system and from when Mountain Molds still offered iron molds. It's a "normal" design gas checked grease groove type bullet that weighs 440 gr and is sized to .459" and cast of 11 BHN alloy. Soft BP/smokeless type lube. IIRC muzzle vel about 1250 fps.

 

[ChrisG]

Since it’s a single shot do you think a Keith style SWC would give you a bit flatter trajectory without having to worry about feeding? May even be able to use a model rocket nose cone as a ballistic tip of sorts.

The only issue with a Keith style bullet that I can see is that, when the bullet is this big, adding a nose like that could make it go from 775 grains to 950-1000. Then the issue becomes finding safe and tested load data for it. I am well within safety parameters and my load could probably go faster (it's unnecessary), but once you go over 2 ounces (875 grains), you are in unknown territory. While I would love a piezoelectric pressure gauge, I don't own one and I don't want to beat the gun up.

Plus the wadcutter is devastating on what it hits. The meplat on this thing is like 0.56" so it acts like a cookie cutter hitting game. But you are right, a Keith bullet would likely carry better through the air and feeding isn't an issue.

Here is the mold page for Accurate molds (http://accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=26) he list a large variety of 12 gauge molds... perhaps I will have to give another one a go.

 

[ChrisG]

Yep, cool bullets for a 12 bore !

As to potential accuracy of cast?... hard to compare to regular jacketed bench rest stuff but can be impressively accurate given historical perspective and non-optical original type sights.

Tightest group I ever witnessed shot with cast from any rifle at longer range, 300 yds, with aperture rear and globe front was out of a Shiloh Sharps 45-70 @ 3/4". I was spotting for a friend and watched each bullet plunge into a 3/4" hole. I could never equal that with either Sharps I had at 300 yards. Best I could do at 300 yards, and it was pretty consistent in good conditions, was about 2.5" at 300 yards with a C Sharps 45-110.

One day testing and playing a little with the C Sharps 45-110, I shot the 5 shot group pictured below at 50 yards. Posted to show accuracy potential of cast bullets. I ordered that C Sharps new from the company about 2002? when they were still using Badger barrels. Normal chamber/throat and about the config. and weight of a "Guigley" with a long range tang aperture rear and globe front. The bullet is from a mold I designed using the Mountain Molds online system and from when Mountain Molds still offered iron molds. It's a "normal" design type bullet that weighs 440 gr and is sized to .459" and cast of 11 BHN alloy. Soft BP/smokeless type lube. IIRC muzzle vel about 1250 fps.

View attachment 367210

View attachment 367211

I remember seeing in one of hodgdon's old manuals from the 1970's a group shot by a lady using a 38-55 ballard rifle and cast bullets that had to have been about 350 grains at 100 yards. She had one ragged hole that must've measured less that 4 tenths of an inch ctc. her scope was similar to a modern HiLux. Impressive since conventional wisdom would tell you that a .38-55 passes through the sound barrier somewhere between 50 and 100 yards. Doubly impressive considering scope quality of the day. But those big heavy cast bullets must've been hard to disrupt and her eyes must have been really keen.

 

[fourfive8]

Agree, I don't know for an absolute fact but there apparently is something to trying to avoid that trans-sonic velocity "zone" for best target/group. I have watched bullets in flight enough to say there is sure enough something going on when the bullet passes through that zone but still hard to predict and impossible for most of us to properly analyze given readily available or affordable equipment. I believe the military does quite a lot of that type testing though. I remember watching cast bullets, in flight, out of a rolling block 43 Spanish that were apparently losing stability about the time they were going subsonic- somewhere around the 200 yard mark. It looked like something was "yanking" them off at a very steep angle, I'm sure an optical illusion because of the angle of observation, but nonetheless odd. They'd travel in a true, slightly arching line until about the 200 yard mark then zing off at random angles. My best guess was that they were marginally gyroscopically stable from he muzzle out to about 200 yards then either coincidently or by cause and effect because of the sonic transition, stability was totally lost and they really went off kilter.

 

[tarbe]

View attachment 367211

Looks like maybe SPG lube?

 

[fourfive8]

Yes IIRC, that bullet was cast quite a while ago. It is either SPG or a close clone. That type lube is relatively soft, easy to pan lube with and works well with both blackpowder and smokeless.